You lost her? how sad! Why not go into partnership with the new guy and split the costs?

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Because:
a) I wouldn't do any sort of business with a guy who's already demonstrated that sort of weasel approach to ethics, and even if I would,
b) He's not going to do any restoration anyway, he just wants a cheap place to live. First thing he did was drive two big 8" screw hooks into the outside of the hull to hang his bike on.

It's going to be just another semi-derelict liveaboard slowly deteriorating with no maintainance.

Well, I got a call from the harbormaster today... the other parties private deal fell through because he has prior history with the marina, and they won't let him keep the boat in the marina because of it. He asked the harbormaster to put me in touch with him... and I got the boat after all.

On the boat I found, among other things, some of the original design drawings by Wendell Calkins, including the rig layout, so that question is answered.

I also found some pictures taken when she was last hauled out in 2005, so I find I was misinformed - she has a fin keel after all.

Just a quick update... the boat is now on the hard. The bottom turned out to be in pretty good shape, so far as the hull itself goes. The fin keel, however, appears not to have been properly primed before being anti-fouled, and is pretty heavily pitted.

Luckily, none of the pits had gone through. An aggressive wirebrushing didn't pop through on any of them either. I've coated it with rust inhibitor, and will be applying some two-part epoxy primer over that.

Here she is as washed...
You can see that the hull's smooth and in great shape, as is the long keel. The only pitting is on the fin keel.

The only other problem I found underwater was the strut holding the cutlass bearing. As you see here, the cutlass bearing is worn out. No great surprise there, but the problem is that the strut is not quite properly aligned with the shaft.

Luckily, the strut is too high, not too low, so the fix is easy. I've removed it, and will insert some 1/8" lexan shims between the strut and the epoxy beds on the hull.

Luckily, none of the pits had gone through. An aggressive wirebrushing didn't pop through on any of them either. I've coated it with rust inhibitor, and will be applying some two-part epoxy primer over that.

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Perhaps to sell the boat that might work , BUT the only cure is to blast to water white and start with the epoxy.

Look on the Sherwin Williams commercial ship sites for the best info.

What works on a pickup truck rusty bed is not the way to go on a submerged in sea water piece of iron.

Perhaps to sell the boat that might work , BUT the only cure is to blast to water white and start with the epoxy.

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I have to disagree, sorry.

I was a ships officer in the Merchant Navy for many years, and on underwater surfaces we ALWAYS applied a rust inhibitor before priming. While putting epoxy straight on steel is ok in new construction where the steel has no surface pitting, a surface that has already rusted will "always" have rust remaining in tiny pits even after sandblasting.

While I agree that blasting would be better - and quicker - than wirebrushing, unfortunately the "Democratic Peoples Republic of Berkeley" does not allow shot or sand blasting outside. Even to wirebrush I had to fully tent the entire area, with the plastic tent duct taped to the hull and a canvas tarp tent outside that, and a plastic sheet floor laid below it.

However, a good aggressive wirebrushing, using a 6" wheel in a high speed angle grinder, combined with a 1/8" cup brush in a Dremel to get into smaller pits, gave me clean white metal all over. Is there a little rust left in pits too small to get even the Dremel brush into - or even too small to see? Yes, I'm sure there is, but there would be after sandblasting, too - hence the "What a Job" before the epoxy primer.

Here's the website for "What a Job"... http://www.chirienterprise.com/Job-Marine/Job-Marine.html#Application . Check it out - they'll send you a free sample 4oz can to test. I've used it on rig supply boats in the North Sea where it gets physically banged around by loads in above deck use, and by things like dragging a rig anchor cable under the hull when moving a rig when in below water use.

watchkeeperPrevious Member

I was a ships officer in the Merchant Navy for many years, and on underwater surfaces we ALWAYS applied a rust inhibitor before priming. While putting epoxy straight on steel is ok in new construction where the steel has no surface pitting, a surface that has already rusted will "always" have rust remaining in tiny pits even after sandblasting.

While I agree that blasting would be better - and quicker - than wirebrushing, unfortunately the "Democratic Peoples Republic of Berkeley" does not allow shot or sand blasting outside. Even to wirebrush I had to fully tent the entire area, with the plastic tent duct taped to the hull and a canvas tarp tent outside that, and a plastic sheet floor laid below it.

However, a good aggressive wirebrushing, using a 6" wheel in a high speed angle grinder, combined with a 1/8" cup brush in a Dremel to get into smaller pits, gave me clean white metal all over. Is there a little rust left in pits too small to get even the Dremel brush into - or even too small to see? Yes, I'm sure there is, but there would be after sandblasting, too - hence the "What a Job" before the epoxy primer.

Here's the website for "What a Job"... http://www.chirienterprise.com/Job-Marine/Job-Marine.html#Application . Check it out - they'll send you a free sample 4oz can to test. I've used it on rig supply boats in the North Sea where it gets physically banged around by loads in above deck use, and by things like dragging a rig anchor cable under the hull when moving a rig when in below water use.

Richard

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Hi Richard,
Congrats on a great win. Re blasting will the locals allow sodium blasting. I used this method a lot when I got called to take care of conservation and heritage projects both marine and architectural in sensitive areas. The sodium is approved by most countries for release if free of antifoul and containing only Fe oxide into drains to sea without enviromental impact or offence.

Hi Richard,
Congrats on a great win. Re blasting will the locals allow sodium blasting?

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To be honest, I didn't even think of asking about it. I've never used it myself, or even seen it used, but it was my sort of 'heard in passing' understanding that it was a lot less abrasive than sand or shot, or even walnut shell, and good only for light surface rust. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

As to whether it'd be allowed, I don't know, but I doubt it. The residue would contain quite a lot of anti-fouling, unless one went ahead and wirebrushed aggresively first anyway.

Everything that hits the ground in the yard goes down through drains into a multi-stage filtration system in a pit under the travel-lift. The water is then treated in a pass-through system before going into the Bay.

There'd need to be two considerations. First, how much water would need to be used to dissolve the Bicarb so it didn't end up as solid matter in the filter drums - since they are charged for by weight by the HazMat disposal company. Second, would the dissolved Bicarb have any impact on the acidity / alkalinity of the discharge water that might affect the treatment process?

Never having used it, I can't answer either question.

Of course, I'm not even going to get into the whole "What's the point?" question anyway, since the permissible whirebrushing still produced great piles of ground off antifouling and rust, plus a big box of worn out wire wheels.

watchkeeperPrevious Member

The equipment used on my various projects was provided by a contractor with the operator. On 2 inner city sites it blasted 100yrs of paint and scale of wrought iron. Same deal with a riveted iron plate hull and again on a several badly corroded/pitted hulls, steel tug restoration and composite timber/steel frame yacht.
Each time the water/sodim mix solution happens as soon as blaster was fired and residue wash flowed away without additional water. The salt has no impact or effect on ph levels and I've used the same equipment on alloy and GRP hulls to blast remove anti foul and old paint.

The degree of abrassion depends on sodium concentrate and pressure. Sounds like the yard your yacht's in is ideal if they would allow it.

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